142 rnYSICAL GEOGRArilT OF THE SEA, AND ITS METEOROLOGY. 



320. Land breeze in Brazil and Cuba. — But on the opposite side 

 — on the coast of Brazil, as at Pernambnco, for instance — where 

 the trade-wind comes from the sea, we shoukl have this condition 

 of things reversed, and the sea breeze will prevail for most of 

 the time — then it is the land breeze which is feeble and of short 

 duration : it is rarely felt. Again, the land and sea breezes in 

 Cuba, and along the Gulf shores of the United States, will be 

 more regular in their alternations than they are along the shores 

 of Brazil or South Africa, and for the simple reason that the 

 Gulf shores lie nearly parallel with the prevailing direction of 

 the winds. In Eio de Janeiro, the sea breeze is the regular 

 trade-wind made fresher by the daily action of the sun on the 

 land. It is worthy of remark, also, that, for the reason stated 

 by Jansen, the land and sea breezes in the winter time are 

 almost unknown in countries of severe cold, though in the 

 summer the alternation of wind from land to sea, and sea to land, 

 may be well marked. 



321. Night scenes lohen sailing with the land breeze. — " Happy 

 he," remarks Jansen, " who, in the Java Sea at evening, seeking 

 the land breeze off the coast, finds it there, after the salt-bearing, 

 roaring sea wind, and can, in the magnificent nights of the 

 tropics, breathe the refreshing land breeze, ofttimes laden with 

 delicious odours.* The veil of clouds, either after a squall, with 

 or without rain, or after the coming of the land breeze, is 

 speedily withdrawn, and leaves the sky clearer during the night, 

 only now and then flecked with dark clouds floating over from 

 the land. \Vithout these floating clouds the land breeze is 

 feeble. When the clouds float away from the sea, the land 

 breeze does not go far out from the coast, or is wholly replaced 

 by the sea breeze, or, rather, by the trade-wind. If the land 

 breeze continues, then the stars loom forth, as if to free them- 

 selves from the dark vault of the heavens, but their light does 

 not wholly vanquish its deep blue, which causes the Coal-sacks 

 to come out more distinctly near the Southern Cross, as it smiles 

 consolingly upon us, while Scorpio, the emblem of the tropical 

 climate, stands like a warning in the heavens. The starlight, 

 which is reflected by the mirrored waters, causes the nights to 

 vie in clearness with the early twilight in Jiigh latitudes. 

 "Numerous shooting stars weary the eye, although they break the 

 monotony of the sparkling firmament. Their unceasing motion 



* In the Roads of Batavia, however, they are not very agreeable. — Jansen. 



